Ghazal 233, Verse 4

Nazm:

The lamp-show of lament, which it used to stroll through and look at-- now again the self [jii] is wanting to stroll through and look. (264)

== Nazm page 264

Bekhud Dihlavi:

He says, again the self wants, as before, to lament in such a way that would cause sparks to rain down. It's been some time since having seen the spectacle of a lamp-show. (321)

Bekhud Mohani:

This is not a verse, but a wonder of poetry, and a miracle of the creation-displaying power of imagination and thought. (496)

FWP:

SETS

On the structure of this ghazal as a kind of loosely 'continuous' one, see {233,1}.

Idiomatically, garm-e means something like 'hot for' in English, but in the general sense of 'eager for' rather than with any erotic overtones. And this sense certainly works. But when we see, at the end of the line, that it's the 'breath' [nafas] (on this word see {15,6}) that's the subject, we realize that the construction can also be read literally: the breath is again 'hot with' or 'hot by means of' the 'spark-scattering laments'. Thus we have a cleverly framed double possibility: either the once-and-future lover is 'eager for' the 'spark-scattering laments', or else he is already generating them: his 'breath' is 'hot with' them.

To liken these 'spark-scattering laments' to a 'lamp-display' (compare {233,1}) is to do them perhaps less than justice, for they sound like modern fireworks (or at least, like the simple 'sparklers' made for kids). Who wouldn't relish a stroll amidst such a fine show? And if the promenader himself, with his own 'hot breath', was creating it, perhaps that would make it even more brilliantly, or ruefully, enjoyable. For more on the possibilities of chiraa;Gaa;N , see {5,5}.